Laura Gardiner profile is inactive at the moment. You can continue your search through our search engine
About Laura Gardiner
Laura’s lifelong dedication to music began at just three years old, when she first picked up the violin. Guided by the commitment and inspiration of her first teacher, Brenda Smith, Laura has built her career around nurturing the next generation of musicians.
Laura studied music at the University of Leeds, followed by a Postgraduate Diploma in Performance from the Royal Northern College of Music. She then trained as a primary teacher, where she witnessed first-hand the inconsistency in music education provision across schools and the limited access many children have to high-quality classroom music and instrumental tuition.
Since 2007, Laura has taught violin, viola and piano privately and in schools across Lincolnshire. After stepping away from full-time primary classroom teaching in 2012, she founded a strings programme that introduces young musicians to the joy of ensemble playing from the moment they begin to learn. Under her guidance, her students have achieved notable successes, including being the only state-educated chamber ensembles to reach the Under 19s finals and win the Under 12s Pro Corda Chamber Music Competition, as well as earning the overall performance trophy at the Grantham Music Festival on several occasions. Her groups have toured Europe, collaborated with internationally acclaimed musicians such as Nicola Benedetti, Wynton Marsalis, Leonard Elschenbroich, Tasmin Little, and baroque violinist Penelope Spencer, and many students have progressed to study music at conservatories and universities.
A passionate advocate for accessible quality music education, Laura was a founding member of The Benedetti Foundation team, initially serving as Education Director before becoming its first Foundation Director, a position she held from April 2020 to November 2024. During this time, she played a pivotal role in developing and shaping the Foundation’s programmes of activity, from the flagship mass Benedetti Sessions to the acclaimed Ambassador Programme and most recently the Youth Ambassador Programme, while collaborating closely with Nicola Benedetti, the Foundation’s Founder and Artistic Director, to set its strategic vision and manage its day-to-day operations.
Prior to her work with The Benedetti Foundation, Laura spent 15 years with the National Children’s Orchestras of Great Britain—an organisation she was once a member of—as Regional Orchestra Coordinator for the Northerlies Regio...
Laura studied music at the University of Leeds, followed by a Postgraduate Diploma in Performance from the Royal Northern College of Music. She then trained as a primary teacher, where she witnessed first-hand the inconsistency in music education provision across schools and the limited access many children have to high-quality classroom music and instrumental tuition.
Since 2007, Laura has taught violin, viola and piano privately and in schools across Lincolnshire. After stepping away from full-time primary classroom teaching in 2012, she founded a strings programme that introduces young musicians to the joy of ensemble playing from the moment they begin to learn. Under her guidance, her students have achieved notable successes, including being the only state-educated chamber ensembles to reach the Under 19s finals and win the Under 12s Pro Corda Chamber Music Competition, as well as earning the overall performance trophy at the Grantham Music Festival on several occasions. Her groups have toured Europe, collaborated with internationally acclaimed musicians such as Nicola Benedetti, Wynton Marsalis, Leonard Elschenbroich, Tasmin Little, and baroque violinist Penelope Spencer, and many students have progressed to study music at conservatories and universities.
A passionate advocate for accessible quality music education, Laura was a founding member of The Benedetti Foundation team, initially serving as Education Director before becoming its first Foundation Director, a position she held from April 2020 to November 2024. During this time, she played a pivotal role in developing and shaping the Foundation’s programmes of activity, from the flagship mass Benedetti Sessions to the acclaimed Ambassador Programme and most recently the Youth Ambassador Programme, while collaborating closely with Nicola Benedetti, the Foundation’s Founder and Artistic Director, to set its strategic vision and manage its day-to-day operations.
Prior to her work with The Benedetti Foundation, Laura spent 15 years with the National Children’s Orchestras of Great Britain—an organisation she was once a member of—as Regional Orchestra Coordinator for the Northerlies Regio...
